Design Of A Body Weight Reducing Treadmill

In rehabilitation a primary goal is to improve mobility training. However, patients are not always capable of supporting 100% of their body weight. For example, following a knee replacement, a patient may not be able to support their body weight. If there was a way to reduce the amount of body weight support on the lower extremities the patient would be able to begin training earlier and improve their rehabilitation outcomes. These types of treadmills exist but are expensive, not portable (home), and not always comfortable for the patient. Treadmill designs have used zero gravity (expensive), a bicycle seat (uncomfortable) or a harness systems (do not go up and down with treadmill incline and may be uncomfortable). The objective is to design a treadmill system that can easily be adapted to any treadmill, will accommodate the incline on a treadmill without changing the amount of body weight support, is light, and most importantly will be comfortable and easy to use for the patient.